Head-Tripping 3D Art of the Early 1990s

Here are 12 examples of CGI weirdness from the early days of 3D computer art.

Back in the early 1990s, 3D computer-generated art was still a new thing, a brave new breed of amateur artists emerged. They took up early 3D CGI (computer generated imagery) tools and created graphical works that they then shared on dial-up BBSes and CompuServe, an early online service.

Over the years, I've collected dozens of these now-vintage images, and I recently noticed that many of them are, well, more than a little bizarre. There is something about 3D computer art that is particularly conducive to depictions of eyeballs floating in space or human-headed snakemen enjoying a sunset. Since each image starts from a completely blank digital slate, traditional concepts of culture, physics, or material engineering need not apply when it comes to crafting a CGI illustration.

Many of the images you'll see ahead were created with a popular rendering program called POV-Ray that enthusiasts distributed for free (legally) through the BBSes I mentioned. POV-Ray uses a rendering technique known as ray tracing to produce still images from pre-constructed "scenes" of 3D objects that have been modeled beforehand.

When you're done checking out the slideshow, please feel free to share your fondest memories of vintage CGI graphics. And if you have any bizarre 3D CGI images of your own to share, by all means, let us know about them.

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